TheOldBear

A few years back [2018?], it was suggested to purchase an off the rack tux at [for example] Marks and Spencer at the West Quay mall in Southampton. Looking at their web site it shows 99 pounds for a "Black Regular Fit Tuxedo Suit". Add a shirt and tie and you get to keep the Tux for your next formal event. This old thread indicated rental prices started at $90 for one night [the thread has a dead link into the old Cunard FAQ page for the price list]. Pasting in part of the Cunard FAQ [2018 prices], pasted into the old thread... Black Tuxedo Packages** Includes Dinner Jacket, trousers, shirt, bow tie & handkerchief. Number of Nights - Cost (USD) 1 - $90 2 - $125 3 - $170 4 - $210 5 - $250 Shoes are not part of the rental - I would think almost any black shoes would be suitable - even sneakers 😉 The bow ties available on board were the pre-tied variety. On our 2019 crossing a passenger presented a hands on seminar on bow tie tying - standing room only in one of the tender lounges.

The VP page was stating that reservations for my 25 October sailing would be accepted starting 11 October - perhaps there will be some updates available before then.

I was poking around the voyage personalizer today, checking if there were any shore excursions posted for our 1 November Southampton stop [nope, no new ones] and decided to check out the dining tab. I noticed a new "Dinner at Kings Court" link, with no reference to the rotating cuisine / menu choices. [and apparently casual attire like the rest of Kings Court] I thought that was odd, and looked on cunard.com where the Kings Court 'find out more' link now goes to a 'not found error 404' page, instead of the old page describing the choices. Has anyone else noticed this? How about recent/current QM2 folks? Were the rotating menu choices available?

I would hope or expect that with years of experience that Norway knows how to cope with winter. Our Northern Lights sailing is in November, but I have been doing some research here and on sites like 'visitnorway' and 'visittromso' as starting points. See https://www.visittromso.no/travel/how-to-dress and any information Viking provides - and hopefully someone knowledgeable will drop in to this thread. Mrs Bear bought a pair of well fitted winter boots, and we have a pair of Yaktrax on order to fit them. Some of the excursion vendors include winter clothing and boots - check their web sites if you elect an independent excursion [vs the ship's tours]

Our last two sailings, and our upcoming 'Norway and Northern Lights' sailing are based on QM2 round trip from NY to Southampton. The basic crossing is seven days each way, or 14 for the round trip if no side trips are scheduled. The Northern Lights segment is a 12 day Southampton round trip. There are other options between different crossing pairs - currently the QM2 is doing a Mediterranean trip before returning to Southampton and then NY. As mentioned in a previous post, it is usually possible to pair a repositioning cruise with a QM2 crossing - with a variable amount of time and distance between them depending on schedules. We like the round trips - e.g. 26 nights and only need to unpack once. As far as minimizing sea days - the QM2 could do a 5 day crossing, but Cunard has elected for slower crossings [lower fuel costs, greater onboard revenue] and we enjoy our time onboard. For us the time onboard is the major attraction. Some repositioning and island hopping sailings will have fewer consecutive sea days, but the cruise will take longer overall [slower cruising speed, delays for the port visits]. You may want to take a look at sailings like HAL's "Voyage of the Vikings" - or for that matter some Viking sailings that stop in Iceland.

Note that this site is sponsored by folks who do not want other travel agents mentioned. You may want to look at the 'deals' and 'find a cruise' links at the top of the page, and visit the first Time Cruisers Forum

They can be - but you still need to buy / bring a shirt (shirts are not rented).

The Fire doors can be opened manually from either side. Their normal intended function is to limit the spread of smoke, not people.

I'm looking at a similar choice - in addition to my EM10 mark 2and its pair of 'R' lenses, I also have a EM 1 mark 2 body that came with a 12-200 travel zoom as the package 'kit' lens. I am currently evaluating getting a 'pro' grade lens, with four choices [12-45 f/4, 12-40 f/2.8, 12-100 f/4 and Panasonic/Leica 12-60 f/2.8-4] I'm tending toward the 12-40 as Amazon currently has the original model at a discount [the recently introduced 'mark 2' is the same optical formula, but has the better antireflection coatings introduced on the 12-45 lens] This choice is not urgent as the 12-200 is more than a decent performer in the shorter focal length range.

I have the older OMD EM10 mark 2 - and the mark 4 seems to nice successor model. [same tilt screen, OLED viewfinder, battery, popup flash] I have the cheapie 14-42R kit lens, and it is adequate, not spectacular. Your budget will permit an upgrade to the 12-45 f/4 'pro' lens. This lens zooms wider and longer than the kit lens, and is a bit brighter at the long end of the zoom. I would pair this with the 'plastic fantastic' - the 40-150R zoom lens. This is sometimes available refurbished for $99. For that matter, just checked the Olympus outlet store, and a refurb mark 4 body is currently $559 [in either all black or silver and black]

I've seen some recent postings over on you tube [from spring QM2 sailings] indicating that decks 5 & 6 between the 'A' and 'B' stairs were restricted [fire doors closed, isolation warning signs]

I might be answer this after my next sailing - a QM2 'Norway and Northern Lights' round trip from NY. There should be no shortage of available info here on CC. Have you decided on : time of year [midnight sun or northern lights]? departure port [Southampton, Dover, Bergen...]? One way or round trip [return home from cruise departure port]? duration? An unconventional option may be the Norway 'Costal Express' offered by Hurtigruten - it is not a typical cruise ship, making many short stops along its run. [apparently some stops are less than an hour as part of a costal ferry service]

I went through OCS - not Canoe U - and as I recall the OCS Celestial Navigation syllabus took at most 5 or 10 minutes, and Surface Warfare Officer school not that much longer, even in pre GPS days [1980]. The SWO focus was on LORAN-A and -C with some pre GPS satellite assistance, the Navy 'Transit' system. Piloting, maneuvering boards and charts were covered with more time and hands on experience. Oddly this also included use of a sextant - determining distance from objects of known position and height [like lighthouses]. Useful to back up radar fixes, or when emcon prohibited use of radar.

You may want to see if your cruise line offers an affiliated luggage service. For example Cunard offers 'White Star' branded luggage service - which over the years was fulfilled by different vendors [DHL, 'Luggage Forward']. With the current air snafus - are you planning on arriving the day of sailing, or the day before? It likely would still make sense to send the luggage to meet you at the ship.

Probably the winner was an old QM or BM Senior Chief

Perhaps Mrs Bear and I are old fashioned - but we prefer the traditional assigned seating and time [late seating is our preference]. We usually opt for a 6 place round table - larger or rectangular tables inhibit communication.

There is a comparison and buying guide over on DPreview https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/buying-guide-best-enthusiast-long-zoom-cameras For retailers, there are the 'usual suspects' - DPreview is owned by Amazon these days. There are the major NY retailers [B&H, Adorama] but you may want to see if there is a somewhat local camera dealer where you can see how the cameras fit your hands and eyes.

You may want to check over in the British Isles/Western Europe sub forum - I recall a mention about a drop box for VAT refund forms at the Ocean terminal - but I've never looked for it as we didn't buy anything except drinks and snacks.

This may be venturing into 'red banner' territory - but the UK Office for National Statistics indicates an infection rate of about 1 in 21 for the UK as a whole, and about 1 in 15 for Scotland.

I still recommend a 'fixed lens' [not interchangeable like a dSLR or mirrorless system camera] as the first step up from a phone. The Panasonic FZ-1000 mark 2 is a useful baseline [and a very nice choice]. Price new is about $800 - with the similar 'mark 1' available for less than $600 I still have, and occasionally use, the FZ50 bridge camera I purchased in 2007. The Leica branded zoom lens covers the range from about as wide as a wide cell phone camera [24mm in 'standard' terms] to extreme telephoto [over 400mm in 'standard' terms]. The advantage of the fixed lens is you always have it. The camera has 5 axis dual image stabilization [optical and moving sensor] to compensate for photographer movement. So far I have not found a need for a tripod or monopod even with the much older FZ50. The 'one inch' sensor is much larger than cell phones [apparently there is a pending release of a large sensor cell phone that will make an iPhone look cheap] There are nice 4k video modes, and a burst mode [6k photo] that helps to capture fast action [similar to the 'pro capture' mode on my Olympus]. There is a nice electronic viewfinder - and like all mirrorless cameras, it shows the live view of the subject [plus optional information like focus confirmation and over exposure warnings]

I spoke briefly with Steve Payne after an onboard lecture [he and I seemed to be the only gents onboard wearing a QM2 necktie] and he said the ship was wired for networking using the EIA768B standard [the so called CAT5 wiring] but was intended for relatively slow 10 mbps networking. It would be a fairly major rewiring job to install a fiber optic backbone and shortening some of the CAT5 wiring to allow for higher speeds. On the other hand - I do hope that the planned Starlink enhancement of satellite to satellite laser links will enable mid ocean use of the service [in addition to, or in place of the geosynchronous sats].

I’ve used Lensrentals twice - a superzoom for an air show and a ‘pro’ grade lens for my Olympus I am thinking of buying. The lens arrives packed in a Pelican case, inside the shipping box, along with the prepaid return label.